Best PlacesSouth Padre Island, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around South Padre Island, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
South Padre Island ranks 34,813th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in South Padre Island
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
South Padre Island's strengths and weaknesses
Where South Padre Island ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 185 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- Short commute13.3 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
Where South Padre Island ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in South Padre Island
A household needs to earn about $105,000 a year to comfortably buy the median South Padre Island home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $71,321, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses South Padre Island's effective rate of 1.26%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in South Padre Island
South Padre Island runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for South Padre Island.
Who works in South Padre Island, and how
Work in South Padre Island centers on finance & insurance and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 35%
- Work from home 35%
- Transit, walk, or bike 30%
Life in South Padre Island
South Padre Island has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns and more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. The coast is about 0 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of South Padre Island and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in South Padre Island, month by month
South Padre Island sees roughly 185 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 71, with lows near 53. The comfortable stretch runs November through April.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 71° | 61° | 53° |
| April | 83° | 75° | 69° |
| July | 93° | 85° | 78° |
| October | 86° | 77° | 69° |
Flying in and out of South Padre Island
The nearest airport, Brownsville/South Padre Island International, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Antonio International, about 250 miles away.
The best schools in and around South Padre Island
Schools across South Padre Island average a D, better than 8% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Palmer-laakso ElC+ · 37% proficient
- Brite ElD+ · 25% proficient
- Derry ElD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Los Cuates MiddleC+ · 36% proficient
- Lyford MiddleC− · 29% proficient
- Lucio MiddleD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Brownsville Early College H SA · 73% proficient
- Los Fresnos H SB · 50% proficient
- Lyford H SC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every South Padre Island school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
South Padre Island measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare South Padre Island against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in South Padre Island
Is South Padre Island a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, South Padre Island ranks 34,813th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and the weather, and lowest on crime and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is South Padre Island expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $377,400. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $71,321 median income, cost of living beats 63% of towns.
Is South Padre Island safe?
South Padre Island is safer than 0% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,506 per resident a year.
Compare South Padre Island with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to South Padre Island. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in South Padre Island represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
South Padre Island detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for South Padre Island: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in South Padre Island: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of South Padre Island: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in South Padre Island: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
South Padre Island detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.